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Media Picks Stanford to Win 2008-09 Pac-10 Women's Basketball Title

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - Stanford came out as the clear favorite after a polling of women's basketball media members who cover the Pacific-10 Conference. The Cardinal, who are coming off an historic season which led it to the 2008 NCAA title game, collected 139 points, as well as 13 of a possible 14 first-place votes. Stanford was also the favorite among the Conference coaches in a preseason poll released in October, edging out California, who also finished second among the media, as well.

The five-time Pac-10 Tournament Champion Cardinal accumulated 139 points to take the top spot in the poll. Stanford is under the guidance of 2008 Pac-10 Coach of the Year Tara VanDerveer, who embarks on her 30th year overall and her 23rd at Stanford when the season begins on Friday, Nov. 14 against Minnesota. Cal, who was second in the league last year and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, received the other first-place vote and 126 points.

Arizona State was picked third by the media with 112 points, with USC (94) and UCLA (85) rounding out the top five, respectively. Oregon, with 64 points, was picked to finish sixth and Washington amassed 56 points for seventh in the poll, followed by Oregon State (51), Arizona (26) and Washington State (21).

The media members also selected their Preseason All-Pac-10 team, which was dominated by the post. California's senior F/C Ashley Walker was a unanimous pick, receiving a vote on all 14 ballots. Fellow Bears' post Devanei Hampton was also among the five players named. Stanford junior F/C Jayne Appel, along with teammate sophomore F Kayla Pedersen, last year's Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, were also voted to the team. Rounding out the preseason all-star squad is Arizona State's Briann January, who appears on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated, and was the 2008 Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. All five players named to the preseason team were all-conference picks at the conclusion of the 2007-08 campaign.

Regular-season play begins this weekend with four Conference schools suiting up on Friday, November 14. The State Farm Women's Basketball Pac-10 Tournament takes place March 12-15 in Los Angeles, Calif., at the Galen Center on the campus of USC.